See Also

ECHO ENT (EGP)

The Company operates Star City Casino in Sydney, Jupiters Hotel and Casino on the Gold Coast, Treasury Casino & Hotel in Brisbane and Jupiters Townsville. The Company also manages the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre and the Townsville Entertainment and Convention Centre (in which the Company has a partial interest).

See Also

A potential casino war between Crown Ltd and Echo Entertainment in Queensland could be killed off if the state government approves a second casino on the Gold Coast.

Both companies are vying to develop a new casino in Brisbane. But many industry players are privately questioning the viability of a second Brisbane casino if a Gold Coast cruise ship terminal project before government also includes a casino.

Should a second Gold Coast casino be approved, it would go head to head with Echo’s Jupiters property and could lead to four casinos within an hour’s drive of one another.

The chief executive of James Packer’s Crown, Rowen Craigie, is due to meet government officials on Friday.

He is expected to push the government to clarify its casino plans for the south-eastern corner of Queensland and outline any regulatory framework required for Crown to enter Brisbane.

It is understood Crown is confident of competing against Echo in ­Brisbane, but wants further detail on the Gold Coast.

Echo operates the Treasury Casino in Brisbane under a perpetual, non-exclusive licence and holds a lease on its heritage-listed building until 2070.

Both companies have flagged their interest in the George and William Street development site in the Brisbane CBD. But Echo has said it will only invest if its exclusivity in the city is assured, effectively blocking a play by Crown.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman has previously expressed some concerns about whether ­Australia’s third-largest city could sustain a second casino operator.

Complicating the competitive ­profile is the government’s Gold Coast Broadwater Marine redevelopment for which three of four short-listed proposals contain casinos.

Mr Newman intervened in the public spat between Crown chairman James Packer and Echo chairman John O’Neill, telling the rival casino companies to “cool it” on Thursday.

As the battle between Crown and Echo moves from Sydney to Brisbane, Mr Newman said he welcomed competition for a new world-class entertainment precinct in the city, but there would be a transparent and open process for any new casino.

Mr Newman would not shed light on the state government’s intentions as to whether it would allow a second casino operator in Brisbane.

“We welcome competition. Echo, Crown and indeed maybe some offshore operator may want to have a go too. Whether we have more than one casino, I don’t know,” he said.

“They can battle it out and throw bricks and hand grenades at each other; that’s their business, they are in the commercial world. But we do like competition.”

Packer derogatory, says O’Neill

Mr Newman would not comment on claims by Mr O’Neill that Mr Packer made derogatory comments about his dealings with the Queensland government.

“He [Mr Packer] had nothing much nice to say about the Newman government,” Mr O’Neill said of the conversation.

But a Crown source disputed this version of events. “He [Mr Packer] never said anything critical about Campbell Newman,” the source said. “Queensland was a minor part of the lunch and followed O’Neill’s offer to James Packer to sell him The Star casino.”

Mr O’Neill also said Mr Packer had suggested that if Echo Entertainment, which owns Sydney casino The Star and as well as three Queensland properties, did not oppose Crown’s proposed second casino in Sydney, Crown would leave the Queensland casino market to Echo.

However, since Echo put up a competitive proposal against Mr Packer’s plans to build a $1.3 billion VIP casino and luxury hotel at Barangaroo in Sydney, the Crown chairman has pushed on with his plans to compete with Echo over a possible second casino in Brisbane.

He asked them to join the formal consultation process rather than engage in “arbitrary comments” in the media.

The state government’s formal consultation process for the redevelopment of the government precinct runs from June to August.

The process includes a precinct advisory committee with members from the private development industry, the general public, businesses, Brisbane City Council and other relevant organisations.

The committee includes Brisbane Airport Corporation general manager and former Leighton Contractors manager Renaye Peters, property investor Andrew King and architect Bevan Lynch.

Concerns about location

The state government is keen for the big players to be involved in the market sounding of the redevelopment of the George and William Street precincts ahead of the expressions of interest documents.

The government’s link person in its discussion with Echo and Crown is Stuart Pickering, the deputy director-general in the major projects office of the Department of State Development, Infrastructure and Planning.

Premier Campbell Newman has previously expressed his concerns about a casino being adjacent to state parliament, but the only viable sites being looked at by Echo and Crown – created by the sale of government buildings – are in the top-end of Brisbane’s CBD and a stone’s throw from parliament.

Mr Newman and Mr Seeney concede a new casino might be the only way to guarantee a large multi-purpose development adjacent to the Brisbane River.